Observation of a 2016 Ganymede stellar occultation event with the SOAO 0.6m telescope

On 2016 April $13^{th}$ the Jovian satellite Ganymede occulted a $7^{th}$ magnitude star. The predicted occultation track (occultation shadow) crossed the Northern Pacific Ocean, Japan, and South Korea. Hence, it was a very favorable event due to the star brightness in order to be accessible for small-aperture telescopes as well. While no other similar event is expected for the next 10 years, only two occultation events are reported in the literature in the past, from Earth in 1972 and from Voyager, in large disagreement in respect to the atmospheric detection. However, evidence of an exosphere around Ganymede was inferred through H Lyman alpha emission detected by Galileo UVS, through HST/GHRS detection of far-UV atomic O airglow emissions, signature of dissociated molecular oxygen. We organized a short-notice international coordinated occultation monitoring network with the aim to search for a signature of Ganymede's exosphere in the occultation light-curve by using facilities on Mauna Kea (NASA-IRTF) and Sobaeksan Optical Astronomy Observatory (SOAO) in South Korea.